"My density has brought me to you." (UPDATE Jan 31st)

[Inishmore]

Oh dear, I hope I'm doing this right.

I registered today with no intention whatsoever of creating my own sketchbook, I mainly registered to to marvel at the sheer talent gathered at this place and to learn. Too, I marvelled at the progression that is so plain to see in some sketchbooks, and how some people go from basic to excellent artists in a few years, and that made me feel better about my art. And then I read that opening a sketchbook of one's own is encouraged so...here I am.

Help and thoughts are welcome. I picked up painting and drawing again in December 2009 after a four-year absence and am slowly trying to pick up things were I left them. Issues I think I'm having are anatomy (I'm practising!), shading and contrast and composition. Though I'm fairly sure I need to work hard on about everything. But that's the cool thing about art--every new piece painted is rewarding.

[Inishmore]

Sorry for the double post, I just read that the first post is usually used for introduction and the newest work *facepalm*

#1 an illustration I did for a friend's original story set in the 1930s

#2 started out as a face study but I semi-finished it in the end. The reason why there's a mean evil border around the painting is that the area within is supposed to be filled with a background, but my first attempt at that was rather unsuccessful.

#3 a quick study of a bayou I did today after having browsed many sketchbooks here I tried to step out of my comfort zone and work with more contrast and bigger brush strokes.

[erdbeerfeldheld]

Hey, vielen Dank für den Kommi in meinem SB! Also was ich dir raten würde, ist, die soften Pinsel so wie den Airbrush erstmal links liegen zu lassen und mit härteren zu arbeiten. Vielleicht solltest du dir auch mal einige gute brushes runterladen, die PS-Standardpinsel sind glaub ich nicht so toll. Am schnellsten kommst du voran mit viel life drawing. Dann entwickelt sich das Auge und du siehst "mehr" und genauer. Master studies sind auch gut. Bei Fotos aufpassen, dass du nicht stumpf abmalst sondern in 3d denkst.

[Inishmore]

Vielen, vielen Dank für den Kommentar und die Tipps! Ich habe immer noch ein bisschen Angst vor dem harten Pinsel, aber die werd ich jetzt wohl überwinden müssen ;-) Was die Custom Brushes betrifft, ich habe haufenweise davon, allerdings eher um damit Grafiken zu machen, zum Malen eignen sie sich nicht besonders. Ich versuche gerade herauszufinden, was für Brushes man wohl gut fürs Malen benutzen kann und steh ein bisschen wie der Ochs vorm Berg...

[LMK]

not a bad start at all, keep practicing, try going loose then when detailing use the selection tool. keep at it

[Inishmore]

Thank you!

Selection tool...*makes a note* Thanks!

[cdejong]

Thank you for the nice comment in my sketchbook, it looks like you're off to a good start! If you update your sketchbook at least 3-4 times a week with nice studies and fun paintings and drawings, you'll improve quickly for sure. I wish you the best on your sketchbook journey!

[Inishmore]

Thank you so much!

I'll try to update as often as I can

I did a few hand studies tonight--drawn from life. Hands are among my biggest issues. I can't abstract them whilst drawing. Hence why they don't look "dynamic" or "whole", I think, but more like a random assortment of lines. I know that practice is the key to improve, but I wonder if there's a trick perhaps to learn to view the hand more abstractly.

(And yes, my hands do look kind of odd on top. My real hands, I mean. Not the drawn ones)

[Mischeviouslittleelf]

Keep working at it mate!

-E

[cdejong]

It helps to study Bridgman, he simplifies the hand down some... or just try to think of the palm of the hand as a big rectangular box, with each of the fingers being long rectangular boxes. This will get you simplifying the hand, as well as understanding the forms of the hand.

[Inishmore]

@Mischeviouslittleelf Thanks! I try

@cdejong Thank you for the advice! I just went on amazon and put quite a few of his books on my wishlist, they look quite useful. I'll take a closer look at them on the weekend and order some. Thanks!

[Hellfire]

Hey! Nice work so far. The old radio is awesome!.
I would recommend the bridgeman book like Cdejong did, but I also like a lot the Andrew Loomis book about figure drawing.
So easy and cool for human figure. Its almost impossible to buy, but you can easily find one the internet (like on Scribd.com: The Andrew Loomis book).
It is where I started.
Keep posting!
Cheers

[Inishmore]

@Hellfire: thank you! And thanks for the link also, I will definitely check it out!

The painting here is a quick study and me trying to put advice given here into practice--hard brush set to pen pressure and trying to think of a reference picture as 3D, not 2D. It was mostly me figuring out pen adjustments etc but I figured I'd post it nonetheless

[Myllys]

Hey.

Good start for a sketchbook. Keep up different studies (hand, colors etc). I like the environment. Also last pose/color study rocks

[Inishmore]

@Myllys Thank you! I'll try

[dana brancucci]

Thanks for taking a look at my SB! I read through you first post, it sounds like you have a very healthy attitude towards your development as an artist. Keep pushing yourself to learn something new with each piece you complete and you will get to where you want to be in no time. I really like your hand studies and the still life with the clock. I like where the bayou image is headed, but I think you need to address some of the edges in the painting. The ones closest to the viewer would most likely be a bit sharper and more defined while the foliage in the background would get softer. I think it will help convey a sense of space to the viewer. Good stuff though, let's see some updates!

[NewmanD]

Agree with dana brancucci, and want to saysome more... Before to start painting something try to analyze things... If you paint from picture, look at it, try for a moment analyze color, perspective, maybe you does't like some parts of image, just think about it. I think then you'll be able to take experience from each of your paintings!

Keep it on and good luck!!!

[Inishmore]

@dana brancucci: Thank you so much! The advice is appreciated--good point about the bayou study, I guess I got carried away with the colours there I actually had my friends to give me art prompts so I would have to step out of my comfort zone too, I hope that helps.

@NewmanD: thank you so much! Thanks for the help--I think I'm slowly beginning to look at reference pictures more closely and study them, to sort of "understand" them. I usually forget to look at the perspective though (shame on me), so thanks for the reminder!


I did a few studies this evening. First ones are life drawings with random objects in my room, the second page is full of anatomy studies. The reference pictures I used were from a flyer for a local theatre. As always, thoughts are more than welcome.

[MrParker]

Your pictures are nice. I really like the radio, as there's an uncanny sort of life to it. The last figures look a little off to my eye. I'm terrible with figure drawing, but I suspect their bodies ought to hold a few more curves.

Good luck with the studies, I think you're doing very well.

[jackpot_anjr90]

Nice work man! Great that you decided to make a sketchbook I'd say you better pick up some anatomy books and study from them. Bridgman will work wonders Keep it up!

[erdbeerfeldheld]

You're working hard, that's good! Now regarding your life drawings. Try to do them without using lineart next time, only using planes of different value. It will help you to understand form. A good practice is drawing a piece of crumpled paper or a cloth with many folds.

[Inishmore]

@MrParker: thank you so much! I think you may be right--I'm always hesitant to put too many curves on my figures which is probably why they end of having too few. Looking at them now (next morning) I can see what you mean.

@jackpot_anjr90: Thank you! I went to a big art supply store yesterday, hoping that maybe the Bridgman books had been translated into German, but apparently they weren't. But the books are already on my amazon wishlist and I'll order some this weekend.

@erdbeerfeldheld: oh boy. The idea of a folds/crumbled paper study scares me a bit But I guess I'll just have to go through with it nonetheless, eh? I'll definitely tackle one, thanks for the suggestion!

[Tagtraum]

Hey Inishmore
Mhh, schöne Bilder. Noch jemand der so gut Hände zeichnen kann *neid*
Die Sumpflandschaft gefällt mir am besten, glaube ich!

Beim Radio auf der rechten Seite sieht es allerdings aus, als hättest du über das Braun einfach eine Schicht Grau gelegt (ist nicht besonders überzeugend, es sieht eher aus, als würde da Nebel drüberliegen) - stattdessen solltest du vielleicht einfach eine neue Farbe mischen, die der höheren Graustufe entspricht(? Bin ja auch kein Experte).
Und das Mädel auf dem letzten Skizzenblatt links, bei dem sieht das Gesicht irgendwie nicht ganz richtig aus.
Ansonsten weiter so : D

[Izer]

Hey Inishmore, great start on your sb, and recent too. Nice studies, try to mix them up a bit more, also if you haven't looked at ca.org's tutorial section, there are some gems in there, lots of suggestions for books too, mite help with whatever you mite want to learn. Link: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=42 , Besides that welcome to CA and keep up the good work.

[Inishmore]

@Tagtraum Dankeschön! Allerdings finde ich überhaupt nicht, dass ich gut Hände zeichnen kann, aber trotzdem Danke

Mit dem Grau hast du mich glatt ertappt--genau das habe ich nämlich gemacht. Mea cupla und danke für den Tipp!

@ Izer Thanks so much for having a look at my sketchbook, and thanks so much for the link! It does look like there are plenty of useful tutorials there


The painting below is my failed attempt of doing a portrait of Glee's Quinn Fabray. I've never been good with portraits, so it doesn't look much like her. But it was good practice on face and clothing folds though, so I'm not complaining. As advised I made myself a set of custom brushes which I tried out on this painting (rather than using the standard brushes) and I tried to avoid line art and work with shadows and light to define shapes instead. Her hair's a mess, but I have no clue how to fix it now The folds in her dress could be more refined, and I'm still not sure about her mouth and nose but overall I'm content with how it turned out.

I need to learn how to blend, though. I know how it works in theory, but putting it to practice is an entirely different matter.

As always, thoughts are welcome. How else am I going to get better? :-)

[MrParker]

I think the face is where you've done your best work (Though something doesn't quite look right with the eyes, maybe). The hair actually looks pretty nice to my eye. To me, the main fault is that the body looks kind of blurred.

I'm not very good at digital painting, so I don't really know how to get rid of it. I have the same problem with any digital stuff I do. In theory I think it needs to be more crisp. Perhaps harder edged brushes might work a bit better?

[Inishmore]

@ MrParker: Thank you so much! I agree that the body's a bit blurred, probably because I was in a hurry and mostly focusing on her face. But the blurriness is a general problem of mine in digital painting and I haven't yet found out how to fix it. Even with Photoshop's standard hard brushes I never quite got it right.

[Inishmore]

Picked up some real graphite pencils the other day and tried them out today, and liking them very much so far :-) I attempted some life drawing and also drawing crumpled paper, but it didn't turn out very well. I'll try again when I'm not tired from work and it isn't 11PM Will also pick up some Bridgman books as soon as I got a bit of money on my account again. Also I have no idea why that second scan turned out so wonky, I really don't.

[Turbosnail]

Good start to your SB Inishmore!! AS well as Bridgman I'd also recommend studying Loomis, available to download here; http://acid.noobgrinder.com/Loomis/
and Vilppu's Drawing Manual, available to download here; http://www.scribd.com/doc/6641821/Th...Drawing-Manual
Keep up the good work my friend!!

[AlexTooth]

Hey Inish, nice studies! The girl painting is looking good, once you're happy with the colours I would definitely soften up her face - this is really what separates females from males, the soft features. It's important to have your colours and values right first though, then do some blending.

Tutorial on making a nice painting brush here, and also on blending

http://www.facebook.com/video/video....03513962998720

As for your pencil studies, I'd think more about line quality - at the moment it's quite thick and rough, which is fine if you're just doing some quick work. But when looking at the bigger picture, try to think about lines a bit more deeply and what you can convey and express with them. Using line weight and thickness, varying it in places of importance. Also think about bold longer strokes on the paper, before you make the mark try to get a real feel for the contour before committing to paper.

Keep going